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Muscle Building and BodybuildingTopics related to muscle building, bodybuilding, including training and fullbody workouts. If you are looking for great advice on gaining muscle this forum is for you.

hello everyone, glad i stumbled across this forum. seems to be a pretty good place to pick up knowledge. anyway, a little background of myself. im 28, been lifting for almost a year now with alot of dedication but not much direction. now that i have some experience and a know a little about the sport, id like to take my training to the next level. over the past year, iv managed to move froma 5'8" and a pathetic 123lb, 10 months later to 153 where i am now. im pleased with my progress, but i know if i want to continue to grow i need to set a real path and not just lift cause i can. the powerbuilding style that iv found alot of info about here seems to be the direction id like to take. in a perfect world, id look like mike mentzer, so i use that as motivation. anyways, over the past couple days i have done alot of reading through different articles and and threads here on this site and it seems that a basic fullbody routine with big compound movements is the way to go. any ideas of which routine to follow to make good strength and size gains? im not so concerned with being "ripped" as i just want to be big and muscular. ideally at my height, id like to be a healthy 175-180. my goal for this, my 2nd year training is to put on a quality 15lb. so any advice or direction would be greatly appreciated

thanks for the quick replies and warm welcome. i always keep the main compound lifts the BTB mentioned in my routines. im am comfortable with the forms on all of them, i feel i could use a little work on my squat form. most of my working out is done at home with free weights on an adjustable bench, but recently i found a gym buddy so i have been going with him once a week (got a newborn baby at home) and the rest of my working out is by myself. so where i was going with all that is that i know my squat is weak cause i dont have a rack at home to do it safely with heavy weight. right now my max bench is around 180, dead lift around 220, oh press at 120, and my squat is definitely lagging at 165. but yeah, i am comfortable with most of the motions.
to glwanabe: like i said, most of my working out is done at home, with occasional trips to gym when i can get out. i have a pull up bar, an adjustable bench with leg ext on the end, 7ft barbell, 6ft barbell, ez curl bar, 2 dumbell handles and a whole bunch of plates

i like that press idea, it provides a certain amount of safety. i have to see if there is a place i can set something like that up. i live in a condo/townhouse deal so space is limited

Even without the chains, front squats are more stable and safer than regular squats in terms of handling the weight before and after the movement.
You could perform them sans chains...

but there are several other exercises that the Savickas is suited for when it comes to home training including:
overhead (Savickas) press
behind back BB shrugs
behind back BB wrist curls
bench press
calf raises
hell, you can use it for bicep BB curls if you want to be extra safe

I want to ask one more squat question. Are you able to safely use a weight at home that would be challenging for 20 rep squats?

Also, any experience with front squats?

Sorry for so many questions, but squats are usually the cornerstone and I want to see if there is any way to work them in safely.

yeah i can use a weight that i believe would be challenging for 20 reps during squats. and no, i havent tried front squats yet. basically just been pressing the bar over head and resting it on my back/traps when i squat